Copy holder



D. A. SEAVER May 8, 1956 COPY HOLDER Filed Jan. '7, 1954 4' INVENTOR Donald A. Scaver TTORNEY United States Patent COPY HOLDER Donald A. Seaver, West Cheshire, Conn., assignor to Scovill Manufacturing Company, Waterbury, C0nn., a corporation of Connecticut Application January 7, 1954, Serial No. 402,715

Claims. (Cl. 120-32) This invention relates to copy holders for holding a sheet of manuscript, or typewritten or printed matter, to be copied, and for moving the sheet intermittently a line at a time, so as to bring the lines succesively to a predetermined level or position of visionfor the copyist, an example of which is shown in Patent No. 2,162,706.

One of the objects of this invention is to improve the structure and mounting of the feed roller support spindle so as to assure that the feed rollers will have uniform pressure against the paper.

A further object is to provide an improved arrangement for adjusting the roller support spindle to obtain uniform presure of thefeed rollers on the paper in case they happen to be otf because of manufacturing tolerances or become misaligned through rough usage or handling.

Another object is to provide an improved spring element to prevent any backlash of the feed rollers incident with the feeding operation of said rollers.

It is also an object of the invention to simplify the construction and mounting of the feed roller unit for use in a-copy holder device and one that can be easily assembled and is more durable in use.

Otherobjects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein Fig. l is a perspective View of a copy holder embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is-a fragmentary upper left end view of the copy' holder.

Fig.3 is a similar right end view.

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view through the holder taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view of the feed-roller unit taken along the line 55 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary inside view of the right wall surrounding the bearing plate of the copy holder.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the tension leaf spring, per se, that is associated with the feed-roller unit, and

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the adjustable bearing plate.

Referring now to the drawings, the copy holder device comprises a casing 10 having opposite right and left side walls 1 and 12 which are preferably folded up from the base thereof. The casing also includes a scroll-like plate 13 the greater part of which forms a cover for the front of the casing 10. The rear of the casing may be closed olf by a back wall 14 to protect the internal mechanism.

A presser member 15 is hingedly mounted to the upper part of the scroll plate and is normally urged to swing toward the front wall of the casing by spring 16. The mechanism includes a roller-feed unit 18 which may be intermittently operated from the front of the device by a finger trip bar 19 through a dog 20 and ratchet wheel 34 on the inside of the casing 10.

The particular construction and manner of assembling the roller-feed unit 18 is the subject of my inventionand consists of a solid axle shaft 21 having adjacent its ends ICC reduced portions 22 and 23 and further reduced terminal ends 24 and 25. The left terminal end 24 of shaft 21 that are adapted to project through complementary slots 33 in the front wall of the scroll plate 13 for the purpose of frictionally engaging the copy sheet S interposed between said rings 32 and the presser member 15.

The roller-feed unit 18 is adapted to be driven by a ratchet wheel 34 blanked out of sheet stock and secured to the center part of the axle shaft 21. The ratchet wheel 34 is operated by the ratchet dog 20 referred to above.

The mechanism for adjusting the axis of the shaft 21 to equalize the tension of the feed-rollers 29 and 30 is embodied in the adjustable disc plate 28 and the manner in which his mounted in the casing right wall 11. Specifically the plate 28 is formed with an offset fiange 35 defining a shoulder 35a therebetween that rotatably fits into a larger bearing opening 36 in the right wall 11 of casing 10. The bearing opening 27 for supporting the terminal end 25 of shaft 21 is eccentrically positioned relative to the shoulder 35a. v

For convenience in describing the operationof the device the axis of the bearing opening 27 is indicated by center line A while the axis of the 'disc plate 28 is indicated by center line B and the axis of the shaft is indicated by the center line C.

The manner in which the adjustable, disc plate is mounted in the right ,wall 11 is clearly seen in Fig. 4, wherein the offset flange 35 is faced against the inside surface of the right Well 11 and resiliently urged outwardly thereagainst by a U-shaped leaf spring 37. e The disc plate is provided with relatively small spaced holes 38 in which a suitable tool (notshown) may be inserted for rotatably adjusting said plate in its bearing opening 36. For the purpose of holding the disc plate 28 "in adjusted positionthe outer surface of the flange 35 is formed with a series of radial notches 39 that are capable of being indexed with three equally spaced radially arranged ribs 40 projecting inwardly from the right wall 11. (See Fig. 6).

The U-shaped leaf spring 37 in addition to urging the disc plate flange 35 outwardly against the wall 11 also serves to provide sufficient braking torque to the feedroller unit 18 to prevent any backlash movement to the axle shaft 21 coincident with the operation of the copy holder. The spring 37 adjacent its free ends is formed with drifted openings 41 to permit the spring to be assembled upon the reduced section 23 of shaft 21 with one leg of the spring tensioned against the adjacent feedroller 30 while the opposite leg is tensioned against the disc flange 35. The spring 37 is prevented from r0 tating with the feed-roller unit 18 because its lower looped end will abut against the front wall of the scroll plate 13 as shown in Fig. 5.

In the assembly of the feed-roller unit 18 into the casing 10 the disc plate 28 is first assembled into the right wall bearing opening 36. The spring 37 is next fitted on the reduced portion 23 of shaft 21 and the right terminal end 25 of said shaft inserted into the bearing opening 27 in disc plate 28. The side walls of the cas-' ing 10, which are preferably made of sheet metal, may be sprung .slightly outwardly and the left end of-the shaft 21 forced into place with its left terminal end 24 slipped into the left wall bearing opening 26. While the drawing shows the spring 37 fitted to the right end of the shaft 21 it can equally as well be fitted upon the left Patented May 8, 1956 3 reduced portion 22 and bearing against the left feed roller 29 and adjacent surface of the casing left wall 12.

As best shown in Figs. 3 and 4 in the initial assembly of the parts the disc plate 28 should be positioned in its respective bearing opening 36 so that its axis B shall be vertically above the axis A of the bearing opening 27. Assuming all of the parts are accurately made and properly assembled when the disc plate is so assembled then the axis A of the bearing hole 27, the axis C of shaft 21 and the axis of the left wall bearing opening 26 (not designated) are all coaxial, and the rubber rings 31 on the feed-rollers 29 and 30 should have uniform bearing pressure against the pressure member 15.

If perchance there is not perfect alignment of the parts when first assembled, or if for some other reason the parts should become disarranged, an unequal pressure of the rubber rings 31 against the pressure member 15 will result and cause the copy sheet S to be fed in a biased manner through the machine. To bring the axis C of the shaft 21 into parallelism with the pressure member 15 and assure an equal pressure on the rollers thereagainst, it is only necessary to rotate the disc plate 28 in its respective bearing by a suitable key that will fit into the holes 38 provided in said plate. The fact that the shaft bearing opening 27 in plate 28 is eccentric will consequently move the right roller 30 in a greater circular arc in a plane perpendicular to the shaft axis C than the left roller 29 and thereby establish a uniform pressure of the rollers 29 and 30 against the pressure member 15. By reason of the numerous radial notches 39 on the disc flange 35 that may be indexed with the projecting nubs 40 on the inside of wall 11, it will be apparent that the disc plate 28 can be adjusted minutely to numerous set positions.

While the form of invention herewith shown and described embraces a preferred embodiment of the same, it is to be understood that the construction may be varied as to mechanical details without departing from the spirit of invention and the scope of what is claimed.

I claim:

1. In a copy holder comprising a casing having opposite walls, a spindle having one end pivoted in one wall of the casing, a bearing carried by the opposite wall for supporting the opposite end of said spindle, feed-rollers rigidly mounted on said spindle and adapted to engage one side of a sheet of copy, a presser member for engaging the opposite side of said copy, and means for adjusting the position of the bearing in said opposite wall to change the position of the spindle axis relative to said presser member to vary the relative pressure of the feedrolls on the sheet of copy.

2. In a copy holder comprising a casing having opposite walls, a spindle having one end pivoted directly in one wall of the casing, a bearing member for supporting the opposite end of said spindle, said bearing member having a circular shoulder eccentric to the spindle mounting, the opposite Wall of said casing having a hole into which said shoulder fits, feed-rollers rigidly mounted on said spindle and adapted to engage one side of a sheet of copy, a presser member for engaging the opposite side of said copy, and means for rotatably adjusting the position of the bearing member in said opposite wall to change the position of the spindle axis relative to said presser member and thereby change the position of said feed-rollers for the purpose of equalizing their pressure against said presser member.

3. A copy holder as defined by claim 1 wherein said adjustable mounting for the spindle is a disc plate rotatably mounted in a circular opening in one wall of said casing, which opening is eccentric to said spindle, and means for holding said disc plate against accidental angular displacement after said plate has been adjusted to the desired position.

4. A copy holder as defined by claim 3 wherein said plate has an offset flange with one face of said flange provided with numerous radial notches, and projections on said wall cooperating with said radial notches for holding said disc plate in adjusted position until a sulficient turning force is applied to the plate to make said notches ride over said projections.

5. A copy holder as defined in claim 2 in combination with a U-shaped leaf spring mounted on said spindle, one leg of which presses outwardly along the line of the spindle against said bearing member while the oppo site leg presses against one of the rollers on said spindle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 948,548 Knapp et al. Feb. 8, 1910 1,185,260 Stine May 30, 1916 1,432,832 Brockett Oct. 24, 1922 7 1,939,671 Dodds Dec. 19, 1933 2,162,706 Dodds June 20, 1939 2,273,841 Dodds Feb. 24, 1942 

